Llwyndrissi Halt.

[Mountain]

Mountain wrote:
I actually made a small mistake as I started cutting at the wrong line, but as I did not cut through, I added glue and a little fine sawdust into the cut and drew a new line in the right place. It will be plenty strong enough so no worries!

That's a very good tip.
I'll be following this little wagon build with interest. The information gleaned will be useful if I ever get back to my OO9 layout.

I guess with 009 one would only need a single width lollypop stick for the frame sides and the centre in a similar H pattern, though one may need to reduce the chassis height as 009 is tiny compared to NG7 (0-16.5). Is actually small enough in this scale as about half the length of a typical short 00 wagon or even less? Narrow gauge waggons were often small as they needed to be pushed by a single person.

Next will come a n easy means to fix the wheels to the chassis at an appropiate height.

[Mountain]

If I was using wooden dowel which has more of a depth to it like I used on one past design of H chassis (Very similar to this), I would drill holes straight through BUT when I did this in the past, it was in the days before I had a drill stand and the chassis didn't allow the wheels to sit flat on the track as it was difficult to dril both holes at the exact same angle by minidrill by hand... (I remmedied this by enlarging the holes and drilling a hole lengthways down the centre of the H and used springy wire as a form of suspension to hold the wheels at the appropiate height. A compromize which does work but is not ideal).
But as lollypopstic made H chassis are slightly lower in height, and I also wanted an easier way for those without specialist tools to be able to make their own chassis by copying what I do, I have come up with this simple idea.

With a small round file which needs to be somewhat larger than the axles, one starts to file a U shape where the wheels will go. These U shape slots don't need to be perfect and can be made slightly larger if one has filed at the wrong angle, but if one can try and get the depth of the U to be level we should get no problems in the rolling ability and track holding ability of the waggon. Because the U shape is larger than the axle, it allows the wheels to float over bumps. I have done this with waggons in the past and had no issues.

Make sure the axles sit deeper than the H chassis structure as we need them to so we can hold them in place, but not too deep a slot that the top of the wheel flanges go over the height of the H chassis at what will be the top of the chassis, or the wheels will hit the body which we will make later.

Holding the wheels on. We can either glue lollypop stick offcuts over the top of the axles to hold them in (Making sure no glue accidently goes into the U slots or onto the axles or our whesls won't turn!). We could have one larger single lollypop strip and nail or screw it into the centre H spacing piece of the chassis...
OR instead, we can drill tiny holes one either side of each side of the axle to glue in individual staples or wire to form the same effect so we end up with four staples or wire preventing the wheels falling out.. Either method will work fine, but I do have yet another possible easy solution to hold the wheel in place which I hope to demonstrate shortly...One which will allow easy wheel removal if we should ever need it. Watch this space!

[Mountain]

Now the wheels sit in their U shaped slots and I have this view which shows a more appropiate ride height.

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Next we need to prepare the chassis for a means to hold the wheels in place, so using a triangular file, I filed a slot into the H chassis spacer as can be seen in the photo.

This is to accept a stiff wire in the form of a stretched out paperclip to sit on the chassis without getting in the way of the body (Which has yetto be built), hence the need for a slot to be filed into the chassis.

[Mountain]

So now comes the stiff wire paperclip (Or similar thin stiff wire) which after straightening and opening out our paperclip we first positions it across the top where we filed the V shaped grove, and down either side of the H chassis spacer bar (The bit of wood in the middle that holds the two outer beams together to form a H).
The wheels are then placed in their U shaped slots and the paperclip is bent around them and up (Using small pliers to pull the paperclip tight but not too tight that the wheels don't turn), and the excess of the paperclip which sticks out the top of the H frame chassis is now snipped off so the paperclip wire ends now sit just below where the yet-to-be-built body will sit to give us this: (Follow the pictures and it "Should" explain what I mean!)

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And there we have our lollypop H frame chassis complete.

Next comes the body, the bufferbeams, the centrally mounted buffers and the drop loop couplings, and then, of course, the painting!

The purpose to this build is to demonstrate that one need not spend much money to enjoy this hobby, if one decides to model in a scale and gauge that is easy to model in; where scratchbuilding becomes fun and exciting, and I am not finished yet! Watch this space for the rest of the build as I experiment, making it up as I go along!

[Phred]

The retaining clip turned out quite differently to what I thought you were going to do!
Very well thought out and should work nicely.

[Mountain]

The retaining clip turned out quite differently to what I thought you were going to do!
Very well thought out and should work nicely.

Thanks. It works well as it prevents too much movement (If one tightens it up) without causing much friction (As long as one does not pull the wire too tight).
It is nice and simple, so easy to copy and make just requiring simple tools and easily obtained materials. The simple H chassis design can also be used as bogies if needed as one can offset the paperclip groove and drill a small pilot hole down the centre from the top to allow for a washer and a screw to be screwed in to the H frame from above which would be easier than bolting or screwing into the main body from below as most people would tackle it. (No right or wrong way as long as it works).

I think you are going to like the body idea I have. Watch this space!

[Mountain]

Soo... Some experimenting on a waggon body to find out what will work.

So I have been saving a few Cococola cans amongst other things normally classed as rubbish and I decided to give it a go to see if the tins make suitable waggon body material.

First we prepare our empty tin can. (I think these are aluminium though some are thin tinplate type of steel? These happen to be aluminium). Before one starts experimenting a word of warning. Tin cans have sharp edges. To prevent cutting oneself cut off sharp edges preferably into little curves, or at least cut off the 90° angles at the edge and cut out any burrs at the edges. This will lessen the liklihood that one will cut oneself, and discard the little bits cut off into the bin. (Maybe first put the bits into another cola tin and bin that?)

So we shall begin!

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Here is a Cococola tin.

Next we open the lid with one of these types of can openers.

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And then cut down to open up the usable parts of the tin using a sturdy pair of scissors.

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DO NOT RUSH IN AND COPY YET AS I WILL EXPLAIN WHY IN A BIT. WATCH THIS SPACE!

[Mountain]

The next task it to flatten out the material and check it for size against a template I made a few years ago.

And then the paint is removed from the back using wire wool. (I am told it is easier to do when one has an unopened tin complete with its drink inside as the pressure in the tin is easier to rub against to get the paint off).

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[Mountain]

Next comes marking out and folding not forgetting to cut off sharp corners for safety.

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[Mountain]

But as can be seen by the bit that came off during folding in the photo in the post above (As I was attempting to line things up so I unfolded to attempt to fold again), the material used is a bit thin, and to add to that, the body is a bit too lightweight, and I prefer something heavier... It does work .. but... well... Here's some I made a couple of years earlier out of a thicker material (Tins such as used on biscuits and things like that which have been encouraged to rust. All I need is to find more of this thicker tin to make some more... But lets use one of these rusty bodies for my new H framed chassis.
The good thing is that one needs no glue or solder to make these bodies as they are simply folded and they hold themselves together, though glue is needed to bond the bodies to the wooden chassis)).

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All is not lost though! As the other cola tins provide perfect corrigated sheets via my new corrigating tool as seen a few pages earlier in this thread!

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[Phred]

Mountain wrote:
Here is a Cococola tin.

I'm loving this thread! I'll probably end up never throwing anything away again.
BTW, that corrugated sheet is brilliant!

[Mountain]

Yes! Cola tin is great for corrigated sheets and for making Loco name and numberplates with.

[Mountain]

So next comes the start of the bufferbeams....

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And a test fit for the body. (Painting needed first before the hody is glued on, and it is slightly easier to assemble the buffers and deop links before the body is glued into position, so I may as well do those first, but it gives us an idea of how it will look when it is finished).

[The H framed chassis was origionally designed to accomodate tension lock couplings, which is why I automatically used half depth bufferbeams, as this half depth tended to suit tension lock couplings well. They were the NEM pocket types removed from their pocket and the clip part was simply glued onto the underside of the bufferbeams with much of the clip sitting in the centre of the H frame behind the bufferbeam. I am using my drawing pin buffers a drop loop couplings, so the centre part of the bufferbeam will be extended downwards to accomodate these drawing pin (Thumb tack) centrally mounted buffers and the drop loops will fit to this upper buferbeam frame].

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Hope it shows how to build a simple H-framed waggon at surprizingly little cost.

[Phred]

Very nice! And it has a suitably 'bashed about' look, perfect for an industrial narrow gauge railway.

[Mountain]

Yes! I have been surprized how successful it has been. Also, as one requires the bashed about look, 100% accuracy is not really necessary as slightly deformed bodies and not-so-perfect chassis ensures the waggons really look the part.